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Optimizing health through nutrition: paleo/primal solution

Maxim — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:09:33 +0000

Let me make it clear. I am not really a type of person who is really into things like “diet”. But the whole Paleo movement really got me interested. So, what is paleo? It’s a nutritional approach that focuses on optimization of one’s health through self-experimentation in part but based on few basic principles.

There has been a huge boom around it with lots of blogs created and it seems to really work for many people in terms of overall well-being, energy, etc. Some even report dramatic transformations that literally changed their lives.

There are few reasons why I, personally, got interested:

Smart. Most recommendations are as scientific as it gets. No ethical or historical speculations as in case of vegetarianism and no-nonsense in general. Nutritional advice is based on interpretation of the latest high-quality research as it should be.
Open. It’s in a sense a perfect example of crowd-sourcing discussed in books like Wisdom of Crowds & What Would Google Do. There is an overall atmosphere of transparency and great community with people recording free podcasts answering questions, replying to critical and challenging questions, etc.
Fitness-oriented. It doesn’t significantly contradict everything I’ve learned before about nutrition
means to optimize physical performance (which is what got me interested in nutrition theories in the
first place). Although, people use it for “weight loss” specifically, I like the fact that the whole thing is
not about losing pounds but building a healthy body.
Comprehensive. The fact that it’s not so much a diet but an overall “well-being solution” that includes optimal training strategies, ideas for proper recovery and many other things.
Daring. It does challenge the conventional wisdom in few areas, grains and fats specifically but in a sensible and reasonable way.

Summary of key principles

So, what would be 5-points summary? From what I’ve learned, the key principles are the same:

Don’t eat neolithic foods: things that produced industrially usually aren’t good for you;
Don’t eat grains (especially wheat, barley & rye), sugar (incl. high fructose corn syrup and other similar things) and food that contains them;
Try also avoiding soy (men especially), legumes & industrial refined oils made (such as refined sunlower oil). Experiment with excluding dairy to see your personal reaction.
Eat more animal meats & fats (preferably grass-fed and try organs as well), fish (preferably wild-caught), vegetables (variety of them, incl. green leafy veggies, cruciferous veggies, etc);
Sleep enough, prefer high intensity exercise, listen to your body & experiment.
* Usually the only useful supplements are multivitamin, vitamin D, fish oil and sometimes magnesium. And more often than not even they are not needed.

What to read next

First you might want to check out the info-graphic demonstrating the main ideas. Click to see the full-sized version.

However, don’t stop here as the summary is only an introduction and is not even 100% accurate. What to read next?

Mark’s Daily Apple
Great blog written by Mark Sisson. At first it might look a little kinky with the whole Grok thing but it actually contains tons of incredibly useful and awesomely structured information.
Where to start: Primal Blueprint 101. And then just follow links, there are plenty of them!
The Healthy Skeptic
Another great blog written by Chris Kresser.
Where to start: 9 Steps to Perfect Health: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Robb Wolf
Robb records an awesome podcast and distributes it for free via the website and Itunes store. It is quite extensive, so you might want to find specific topics that are of some interest of you. What I like about Robb is his incredibly ability to make even boring things sound fun.
Modern Paleo
Another nice blog by Paleo enthusiast.
Where to start: shortest and probably best summary of key Paleo principles with links to more detailed posts.
PaleoHacks
That’s exactly what I meant by transparency and openness above. This is the Q&A site with lots of users that has almost all the topics imaginable covered. Great place to find answers for specific questions.
LeanGains
This is not “paleo” blog, strictly speaking, but Martin Berkman brilliantly covers an interesting aspect of Paleo solution called intermittent fasting and shows how eating only 2-3 times a day (instead of obsessing about 4-6 meals as many bodybuilders do) can still get you ripped.
And yes, you might want to check out a Wikipedia article too.

And if you prefer books, I’d suggest The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf, Perfect Health Diet by Paul Jaminet & 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (this is not exactly paleo and covers much wider set of topics but worth reading).

Hope, somebody will find it helpful.

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2 Google talks about healthy posture

Maxim — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:08:52 +0000

Looks like guys at Google feel that importance of posture for overall health. Here are 2 great lectures on the subject that aim to clarify what good posture is and how to improve yours.

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Tabata burpees: 4-minutes high-intensity interval workout

Maxim — Sat, 14 May 2011 21:10:38 +0000

I’d like to share with you the most effective and universal way to lose one breath that I know of. And get a great workout with lost of positive health effects at the same time of course. It’s quick because only takes 4 minutes and universal because can be done anywhere and doesn’t require any equipment at all. I personally like to do it once in a while, especially at times when I don’t have enough time for my regular strength training at gym and yoga.

If you’re interetsed in sport, training & fitness you might have already heard about so-called high-intensity interval training that simply mean that you cycle peak intensity with rest. Periods of time vary but usually it’s 2:1. Today I want to tell you about method developed by Izumi Tabata in 1996 which is called after him Tabata protocol.

In short the idea is to cycle 20 seconds of maximum-effort workout with 10 seconds of rest and repeat as many times as you want or can. Usually it’s recommended to stick with 8 cycles giving us a workout of 4 minutes in total. Research shows that athletes’ adaptation after this kind of exercise was comparable to the one which happened after more conventional longer ~30 minutes workout sessions with lower intensity. The protocol itself was even used to train Olympic athletes.

The Tabata protocol can be applied to any kind of activity that can be intense enough for you. In case of running it would be 20 seconds of sprinting as fast as you possibly can & 10 seconds of rest repeated up to 8 times.

But most often Tabata protocol is applied to the exercise called burpee. It’s a very simple body-weight exercise that combines jump with a push-up.

Here is the real-life demonstration of Tabata burpees recorded by some guy on youtube:

If you still think that 4 minutes is a piece of cake, than I suggest you just give it a try.

To make time-tracking easier and more convenient, enthusiasts created so-called Tabata timers. There are even ones with music and the ones that are customizable. And here is the simple youtube one:

23andme review

Maxim — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:51:42 +0000

23andme can decode your DNA using a sample of your saliva and offer you quite a few insights into your nature. 23andme is the biotechnology company that was founded in 2008 by Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki (who is also Sergey Brin’s wife).

I personally tried it couple of months ago and received my results around a couple of weeks ago and decided to write a brief review. So, what exactly can 23andme offer?

Health

First section is devoted to health. Here you can view:
1. Diseases that you have higher, regular and lower than average chances of getting and some advice on prevention;
2. Traits you likely to have like for example certain muscle types and lactose (in)tolerance
3. Your personal reaction to common drugs: increased or decreased

Ancestry

23andme also analyzes shows maps of where your ancestors came from, how close you’re to different groups of people (for example, Northern Europeans) and let’s you find your genetic relatives. Well, in case you’re not already fed up with you relatives…

Aside from that you can write a message to other people and compare your genetic characteristics. Yeah, kind of “adding to friends”.

Summary

To sum-up I’d say that it’s quite an interesting tool to become more self-aware and probably make some lifestyle changes. But unfortunately research data that 23andme conclusions are based on is very limited, so often is the actionable advice.

Although, results and its usefulness will certainly differ a lot from person to person and research data will surely be expanded later on. Overall, thumbs up and keep up good work, 23andme!

Boost yourself: best music for weightlifting workout (TOP-15 tracks)

Maxim — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:45:46 +0000

Imagine. You’re standing in front of a squat rack and looking at a barbell trying to figure out what the hell you’re doing here and thinking that moving heavy weights is one of the absolutely pointless, stupid, boring and tiresome activity one can engage in.

We all know the situation. You’ve spent quite a stressful day at the office, then got home, prepared all the stuff you need for workout, then got to gym, changed your clothes, but actually found yourself quite tired, lazy and not so enthusiastic at all. Quite the opposite, you’d rather surf the Internet, read a book or simply go to sleep. No need to say that you won’t get either any results or any pleasure from working out with such attitude and in such state.

So, what is one of the most effective ways to change your state, improve your mood and therefore your performance in just few seconds?

Music. Various researches have proven that music is very effective when it comes to getting you in the right mood for training.

I’ve googled the internet and found few blog posts and forum topics discussing best tracks for heavy workouts, but it turned out that large part of these recommended tracks are quite crappy. They are either too depressive instead of energetic (applies to many metal songs) or better suited for cardio training than weight lifting (apples to many pop songs). That’s why I’ve decided to make my own lists of cool songs that will make you awaken that wild beast inside you, make you lift more and truly enjoy the process!

1. All These Things That I’ve Done by The Killers (album torrent, video)
2. Blow Me Away by Breaking Benjamin (album torrent, video)
3. Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit (album torrent, video)
4. Down With The Sickness by Disturbed (album torrent, video)
5. Enter Sandman by Metallica (album torrent, video)
6. Eye of a Tiger by Survivor (song torrent, video)
7. Ich Will by Rammstein (album torrent, video)
8. Links 2-3-4 by Rammstein (album torrent, video)
9. Lose Yourself by Eminem (album torrent, video)
10. No Pain No Gain by Scorpions (album torrent, video)
11. Points of Authority / 99 Problems by Linkin Park and Jay-Z (album torrent, video)
12. Sleep Now in the Fire by Rage Against the Machine (album torrent, video)
13. Thunderstruck by AC/DC (album torrent, video)
14. Till I Collapse by Eminem (album torrent, video)
15. We are the Champions by Queen (well it’s classic!) (album torrent, video)

Other great bands I highly recommend to try for these purposes are Linkin Park, Guano Apes and The Prodigy.

These tracks differ greatly: some of them are very aggressive, others have motivating lyrics and energizing rhythm, but all of them will make you much more willing to workout and as a result will improve your results. Actually, they will make roar and finish your last repetition at that very moment when you feel like you have no energy left, but know it’s only mind telling you to give up, not your body.

So, I hope these tracks are going to help you succeed with your goals and make the process more enjoyable at the same time!

And I’d like to leave you with a great video compilation of bodybuilding workouts that plays the second track on the background:

NB I’m not saying that this is my favorite music overall, I’m not saying that these tracks contain genius symphonies or anything like that, I’m not even saying I would listen to them in my spare time. They just serve the purpose damn well.

These 15 worked best for me. But probably I’ve missed something? Could you share your favorites?

Another blog posts on the same topic: